The present disclosure relates generally to videoconferencing systems, and more particularly, to relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly to video conferencing units.
In recent years, there has been an increased awareness that something is missing from the experience provided by traditional group video teleconferencing, or more commonly, videoconferencing systems. Traditional videoconferencing systems typically include one or more monitors, or televisions, positioned on a movable cart, or stand, and a camera placed on top the television. A microphone and speaker are also provided for meeting audio needs. This common group room videoconferencing equipment arrangement is being challenged in its ability to provide a suitable telepresence experience.
Telepresence refers to a set of technologies which allow a person to feel as if they were present and to give the appearance of being present at a place other than their true location. Telepresence requires that the users' senses be provided with such stimuli as to give the feeling of being in that other location. Therefore information may be traveling in both directions between the user, or near end participant, and the remote location. The monitor(s) and camera(s) of traditional videoconferencing systems usually reside against the wall and are therefore outside the normal conversational space of the table. It is as if the person on the screen was placed at a chair outside the conversational dynamic that occurs at a meeting table.
Eye contact is an essential aspect of human communication. Studies have been conducted on the importance of eye contact and perception of eye contact in videoconferencing. Two directions of gaze have been analyzed: up and down (vertical) and left and right (horizontal) which is effected by where one looks in relation to the camera capturing their image. As is known, if the camera is placed at the top of the monitor, the image of the near end participant captured by camera will appear to the far end participant as if the near end participant is looking downwards. As a result, the far end participants will see the image of the near end participant looking not straight out at them, but undesirably downwards. If the far end videoconferencing unit has a similar setup, then the image of the far end participant captured by the far end camera also suffers from the same downward looking feature. In such cases, both the near end and far end participants will not be able to make direct eye contact with the images of the other end. Naturally, this is undesirable.